Skills for Life
Writing Entry 1
Examination Report
2010 – Test 097
1
Skills for Life Writing Examination Report: Entry 1
This report is based on candidate performance on one version of the Skills for Life Writing Entry 1 tests in
2009/10.
The report is intended as an aid to teachers and colleges in preparing candidates for future Cambridge
ESOL Skills for Life Writing tests. It includes a number of sample candidate answers accompanied by
examiner comments.
Test 097
The three tasks in this test were a questionnaire from a college café, a note inviting a friend to dinner, and
a college writing task about free time activities.
There were 30 marks available on the paper: 9 for Task 1, 9 for Task 2 and 12 for Task 3. The breakdown
of marks available for each assessment focus (Text, Sentence and Word) is shown below.
Text
Sentence
Word
Total
Task 1
0
3
6
9
Task 2
3
3
3
9
Task 3
6
3
3
12
Total
9
9
12
30
Scores were slightly higher for Text focus than for Word and Sentence focus.
Task 1 College café questionnaire
Candidates performed reasonably well on this task.
Sentence focus: Candidates produced good responses, with many scoring in the top band by producing
sound compound sentences to give reasons for their likes and dislikes. There were a number of candidates
who wrote far more than was asked for in the rubric. This may have lead to time management problems for
weaker candidates later in the paper.
Word focus: This task covered a larger number of lexical areas (days of the week, food and drink, café
vocabulary) than similar tasks in past papers. This allowed better candidates to demonstrate their
knowledge of a range of vocabulary while less strong candidates were able to give some information.
Task 2 Invitation to dinner
Candidates performed very well on this task.
Text focus: The scenario was very straightforward and the question was rarely misinterpreted. Candidates
did well here, relying on their own words rather than resorting to lifting from the rubric. There was
sometimes a tendency to go into too much detail giving directions to their house, but this was less apparent
than with previous questions of this type.
Sentence focus: This produced a good range of sentence types, with the first bullet point producing good
use of functional invitation language from stronger candidates (e.g. ‘Would you like to come…’). Some
ambitious candidates also tried to use future tenses to say when the dinner was to take place.
2
Word focus: This task provided candidates with the opportunity to use a range of vocabulary. Strong
candidates expanded on the task, giving reasons for the dinner and detail of the dinner itself. Weak
candidates usually had sufficient vocabulary to attempt this task at their level.
Task 3 Writing about free time
This task was also done well.
Text focus: This was a familiar scenario which produced the required amount of language. There were
some format issues. A number of candidates produced timetable-like lists. Others answered the two points
separately, writing about what they did in one paragraph and repeating this with times in the next. Better
candidates used appropriate time markers, and even very weak candidates were able to produce some
language.
Sentence focus: A sound performance here. The task produced a range of simple and compound
sentences from stronger candidates and some good simple sentences from weaker ones. However, those
candidates who used the list format (see above) produced few, if any, compound sentences.
Word focus: The general nature of the question gave candidates the opportunity to use a wide range of
vocabulary – hobbies and interests, places and personal relationships. They were also able to
demonstrate knowledge of capital letters with days of the week and place names.
Recommendations for Candidate Preparation
All Cambridge ESOL Skills for Life tests are based on the Adult ESOL Core Curriculum and cover all the
Basic Skills Standards in each mode at each level. Therefore, by following the Adult ESOL Core
Curriculum, teachers will be preparing their students for the tests. Candidates will benefit from being
reminded of the following Dos and Don'ts:
Do

Do read all the task instructions carefully.

Do make sure you know all the task types by looking at practice tests.

Do make sure that your handwriting is clear and easy to read.

Do read the task carefully and plan an answer which addresses all the content points of the task.
Try to develop each point fully.

Do consider who you are writing to and try to write in an appropriate style and tone.

Do think carefully about whether the task requires you to ask, describe, invite etc and make sure
you do this in your answer.

Do allow time to check through what you have written.
Don’t

Don’t use a pencil.

Don’t worry if you make a few grammatical errors in tasks. Communicating the message is the most
important thing.
3

Don’t write answers which are much shorter or longer than the recommended number of words.

Don’t spend too long on one answer.

Don’t write a full, rough copy of your answer. Just write brief notes to plan your answer.
Sample Scripts
Sample scripts are provided for each task in the question paper. Please note that it is not possible to
reproduce the candidate answers in the original handwriting, and so any references in the commentaries to
quality of handwriting will not be reflected in the samples provided.
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Entry 1 (Test 097) Sample Scripts and Commentaries
Entry 1 Script A
Task 1
(About 10 minutes)
You go to the college café for lunch.
They give you a questionnaire to answer. Complete the questionnaire.
FRIMLEY COLLEGE
Café Questionnaire
Which days do you eat in the café?
five days a week.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What time do you have lunch?
at 1.00 to 1:30
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What is your favourite food and drink?
my favourite food somali and English.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What do you like about the café?
(Write one sentence.)
The cafee good
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I like cafee vrey mach.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What don't you like about the café?
(Write one sentence.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I don’t like tea
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I likes cafee
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5
Entry 1 Script A Task 1
Commentary
Band
Text
focus
Not
assessed in
this task
Mark
Sentence
focus
Candidate produces a number of simple sentences,
which usually start with a capital letter and sometimes
end with a full stop.
Some control of tenses is shown.
2
2
Word
focus
Some appropriate vocabulary is correctly spelled, e.g.
‘English’ and ‘tea’. However, some familiar words are
misspelled but are still understandable, e.g. ‘cafee’ and
‘vrey’.
2
3
6
Entry 1 Script B
Task 1
(About 10 minutes)
You go to the college café for lunch.
They give you a questionnaire to answer. Complete the questionnaire.
FRIMLEY COLLEGE
Café Questionnaire
Which days do you eat in the café?
Twice day. I go to the cafe to eat. Tuesday and Thusday.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What time do you have lunch?
I have lunch on 1.00am.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What is your favourite food and drink?
My favourite food is cake and mango drink.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What do you like about the café?
(Write one sentence.)
I like about this cafe because they are make very good cafe and the cafe
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
house look beautyfull.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What don't you like about the café?
(Write one sentence.)
I don’t like this cafe because every things paid too much and some time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
tables and chairs are dirty.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Entry 1 Script B Task 1
Commentary
Band
Text
focus
Not
assessed in
this task
Mark
Sentence
focus
Candidate shows evidence of ability to construct
compound sentences by using simple conjunctions,
though some sentences may be excessively long or
short, staccato sentences.
3
3
Word
focus
A good range of appropriate vocabulary, usually spelled
correctly, e.g. ‘because’, ‘paid’ and ‘dirty’.
3
6
8
Entry 1 Script C
Task 2
(About 10 minutes)
You want to invite your friend Samira to dinner.
Write a note to Samira. In your note

invite Samira to dinner

say when the dinner is

say where your house is.
Write about 30 words.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
My fried’s name Abdi.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
He is from Somali.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
He is fanny man.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
He is a student.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
He speak English.
……………………………….…………………………………………………………………………………
He speak Somali.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
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Entry 1 Script C Task 2
Commentary
Band
Mark
Text
focus
Answer is not related to task in either content or format.
It is not an invitation and not a note and therefore there
is insufficient evidence of achievement.
0
0
Sentence
focus
Candidate uses simple sentences without conjunctions.
Full stops and capital letters are used to mark sentence
boundaries.
Candidate produces recognisable sentences, not strings
of words.
2
2
Word
focus
Candidate spells some basic words correctly but they
are not appropriate to the task.
1
1
10
Entry 1 Script D
Task 2
(About 10 minutes)
You want to invite your friend Samira to dinner.
Write a note to Samira. In your note

invite Samira to dinner

say when the dinner is

say where your house is.
Write about 30 words.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Hi Junk,
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
I hope you are well. The 1st murch 9.00pm. We are aregent a dinner
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
party on my house. I invit you coming my house. My address is 33
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Dawson road, Mitcham, surrey, cr14 2BH. I hope you come to our party.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
I told you how to find out my house.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
At first you take a taxi and come tooting station. Then you trun lift side and
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
come straiged and trun right. You saw a traffic light and another side you
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
saw a park. Then you trun right you saw a surgery. My house opposite
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
this surgery.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Thank you
11
Entry 1 Script D Task 2
Commentary
Band
Mark
Text
focus
Candidate covers all aspects of the task and intended
audience would be informed.
Text is well organised, uses cohesive devices and
includes opening and closing formulae.
3
3
Sentence
focus
Candidate uses compound sentences.
Sentence grammar is well controlled.
3
3
Word
focus
Candidate uses appropriate vocabulary. Some
inaccuracies, e.g. ‘murch’ and ‘trun’, but ambitious use
of other vocabulary items places this in Band 3.
3
3
12
Entry 1 Script E
Task 3
(About 20 minutes)
Your teacher asks you to write about what you do in your free time.
Write about

the things you do in your free time

when you do these things.
Write about 40 words.
I am study because i like is teacher. I like teach
children in school. teach him reading and writing and
speking in this cantry. I like teach my wife and my
children than speking together about shopping.
I thing study 4 or 5 years. I like study English
class. I like study high class in England.
13
Entry 1 Script E Task 3
Commentary
Band
Mark
Text
focus
Intended audience would receive limited information
about the task. However, the text is organised and
reasonably coherent which places it at the top end of
Band 1.
1
2
Sentence
focus
Candidate mostly uses simple sentences. There is
control of word order and there are appropriate sentence
boundaries.
2
2
Word
focus
Candidate’s spelling is largely correct and where errors
occur, meaning is still clear.
Handwriting is legible.
There is a good range of vocabulary.
3
3
14
Entry 1 Script F
Task 3
(About 20 minutes)
Your teacher asks you to write about what you do in your free time.
Write about

the things you do in your free time

when you do these things.
Write about 40 words.
1200 I going my soon to baby crashe.
100 pm Give my soon eats lunch and he go to sleep.
200 pm I cleaning my flat.
- toilet, bathroom.
300 pm I cooking dinner for my husband, soon and me.
400 pm I going and my soon the play to park and leeter going to schop in
schooping buy juice, bred, milk and chocolate.
600 pm We walking swimming pul to JJB.
(Total: 12 marks)
15
Entry 1 Script F Task 3
Commentary
Band
Mark
Text
focus
Intended audience would be informed of the main points
in the task, though there are instances of incoherence
e.g ‘We walking swimming pul to JJB.’
3
5
Sentence
focus
Candidate uses mostly simple sentences with some
control of word order.
Full stops and capital letters are used as sentence
boundaries.
2
2
Word
focus
There is a good range of vocabulary appropriate to the
task but a number of spelling errors may cause
confusion.
Candidate’s handwriting is legible.
2
2
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